The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-03
SPECIMENS CT THE QUEER"
An Expert in Counterf>ft 1foney-DoSus
Cold and silver Coin.

Cold and silver Coin
The laws of the United States provide
penaIsicj rot only for making. uttering
and passing. but fer having in posses
SION counterfeit money, and when a
man C;-n safely come to you and flash
up Z roll Of biils IS large as your arm in
one hundreds. fifties, twenties and SO ON
down. rrosiucc from one pocket a hand
full of ai.- .cring yellow boys and from
the other half n pint of what look Ike
silver ccins, all counterfeit, he must be
some enc quite out Of the ordinary.
Such a man is James III. Gables, Of
New York, an expert in spotting counter
felt nlCncy, aid an attachc of The United
States Treasury Counterfeit DctcctOr,
who has just made one of his periodical
visits TO Detroit. Mr.. Cables, under q
special Eccnae from the secretary Of the
Treasury. cares with him about s1..O0
in the Clever-s. Ct spurious paper. gold
and silvcr currency, every nickel 81
which would lie good with any ordinary
person for lis equivalent i'll beer and
bologna. He Gevot,4s his time and spcci-
mems 10 cIiiiyii.cning the simple rs TO the
dangers III pilchbcck bills and coin, and
the Necessity IF Icing supplied with a
couEtyrfti. sictsctOr-
Mir. CaLi,s j. a perfect intelligence Of
flee rs 10 ali matters relating To the
..Gueer," and, although he Is the avowed
enemy of counterfeiters, regards his
choicest specimens of criminal art with
something of the pride that cOnnois-
sour in prints feels in displaying an ar
tist 5 proof Of a Rafael or Morgan.
Perhaps he feels little more joy in
exhibiting tine almost perfect work of
tl.Cso greet masters. Thomas Ballard and
Charlie; U.rich, than in any other. These
are hung ON the eye line of his gallery,
and have every advantage OF light and
situation
Uirich did long time iii the Ohio penn
Tertiary at Columbus, and while there
made portrait of Governor ''Eosshorn
Allen. which is now the best extant- Ii
was probably not i'll recognition of tins
service that Inc WAS parCioned in 1876. i
number of well meaning ladies. immc-
diItUiy upon his release, established him
in the engraving business ut Columbus,
b,I, this WAS too slow for him. and in less
than year lee was floating finely exc
cutel counterfeit az S. bill ON a Penn
syl tania Lank. The plate was run down
in 1880. but the bills still travel and are
exceedingly dangerous.
Ballard, the other premier. is now
tiary. under sentence imposed i'll 1879.
Another excellent ajet dart in Dir. Ca
hle.s' gallery is the magnificent S1CC
bill made and floated by Smith and
| Brock:.way in 1880. This would easily
pass with any one having small change
| for *. unless nc were q real expert.
One valuable suggestion made by Mr.
| Cables is that any United States treasury
note, Tie number of which Is not GIvisi-
| bic by four. is counterfeit
a fact not generally understood is thai
| the Margin of profit in the making q
bogus gold coin is very small. The tens
| and twenties it is almost impossible t.
| make heavy enough to deceive any one
| but a pure amateur. In 50 pieces Mr.
| Cables shows one which, with its mixture
| of silver and fine lettering, is only dis
| tinguisIable from the genuine by slight
| unevcnness Of lettering. 1t Will stand tho
acid test almost perfectly. This coin la;
an intrinsic value of $50, leaving only
8 per cent. to cover the cost of Tnanufac
ture and the risk of term in prison.
In silver coins there is row an elegant
| ard conplcte line of countcrfeits. 1h'
best Of these Is a dollar foated since 1879
fun weight and true ring. hut compose
of Bab!,itt metal thinly coated with silver
This cots twenty-five cents laid down a
the factory. and is disposed of to ''shov
ers'' for fifty cents, leaving profit of lO'
per cent. to cover risk. n fifty cent piece
of 1872, is also bad 'un- 1t is built O
antiInony, tin and Rabbit metal, Is o
full size and weight, clean cut and hand
some. bat has a greasy ''feel.
TIN. Canadian bills in Mr.. Gables cab
met are mostly well engraved. but are de
| IL, MI In
case Of our own notes the popularity o
the paper is one of the most difficult point
for the counterfeiter to overcome.
Since April, 1856 seventeen new cou'
tCrfeits of paper money have been dis
| cnvcretl.-Drtroit Free Press.